Realization
by nursegirl07
Summary: Harry has seen Snape's memories in the Pensieve,and realizes what he must do... how will it all end? Read to find out!
1. Chapter 1

When Harry landed on the floor of the office, he did not move for several moments. He breathed in the smell of the carpet, took notice to the dust particles floating in the air, listened to every sound he could. The meaning of what he saw in the pensieve was too much to take in, too much for one person to comprehend, too much responsibility for someone to be placed with. He now realized that death was the only solution. His death. It was the only way that Voldemort could be stopped. He thought of everyone he loved. Of Ron, Hermoine, the Weasleys, his parents. Yes, he would do it for them. He was willing. He was able.

He stood and looked around Dumbledores old office for a moment. All the times he sat in here, speaking with him while he knew the truth all along… no, he would no be bitter. Not when he had so little time. He had not a minute to waste.

He made his way down the stairs, he tried to take in every detail of the place he felt most at home. He wanted to see his friends, just one last time, even if they didn't know it would be the last time they would see him alive. He wanted his own way of saying good-bye.

Making it down to the great hall, he spotted them. They all looked so tired, so weary. Ready for this war to be over. Harry walked in and stood beside Ron. Then he saw Fred laying there on the floor. He had to choke back a gasp before turning away. Hermione, on the other hand, did not miss what Ron had behind Harry's eyes. The torture of the information he just newly learned.

"Harry… Harry, what is it? Where have you been?" she questioned.

"Hermione… its time. I'm going. I'm going to face him. I have to." he tried to say in the strongest voice he could muster.

With that, everyone within earshot turned towards him.

"No, Harry, you musn't! Don't be absurd!" Hermione yelled, Mrs. Weasley rushing over, tears streaming down her dirt-covered face.

"I'll hear no more of this! I've lost Fred, and sacrificing yourself is not going to stop him, Harry!" She said, out of habit straightning Harry's glasses and ruffling his hair, hands shaking.

"Yes it will." Harry said, swung his invisibility cloak around his shoulders, and ran from them.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry ran as fast as he could to where he knew Voldemort to be. No one could help him now, and no one could stop him now. Then, he heard the booming voice once more:

"If Harry Potter does not meet me in front of the school in 5 minutes, everyone he knows and love will die. This is my final warning." Voldemorts voice boomed, angrier than it had been earlier in the battle. Harry ran as fast as he could.

"NO!" Mrs. Weasely screamed, abandoning Fred's body momentarily, joining the flooding crowd that was beginning to form outside the castle, where Voldemort would soon be returning to await Harry. Ron and Hermione were already at the front of the group, desperately searching for Harry, arms outstretched as if to bump into his invisible body, screaming his name. She could see the tears running down both their faces as they began to look hopeless.

Then Voldemort, somehow surpassing the charms on the school to prevent apparating, appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the clearing.

"One minute to go, Potter! Don't be a coward now, its time to face me boy!"

His face was etched in madness. He was searching, almost as frantically as Ron and Hermione, for Harry.

The moment had come.

Harry removd the cloak.

Voldemort turned his eyes to his prey. The boy that caused him so much pain, so much humiliation, so much trouble. He lazily cast a protective shield around him and Harry, one that even his faithful death eaters could not pass. He could see the faces of the students and his warriors trying to get through, like beating on a glass bubble. He decided to silence them with another lazy flick of his wand.

All the while, Harry stood before him. He tried to look brave, but on the inside, he was panicking. Would dying hurt? What would it feel like? Why did his friends have to watch? Could they just turn their head for that part?

His heart was pounding in his chest. He wouldn't be surprised if Voldemort could hear it. Perhaps knowing that it would be stopping at his hands would give him satisfaction. Harry considered counting its beats before it stopped forever, but he decided to focus on other things.

Voldemort was giving some kind of speech, about how he would finally become the most powerful wizard of all time, and how he was going to be avenged. Harry pretended to listen, but he let his gaze fall towards Ron and Hermione. Ron looked as if he had just seen a ghost. He could see the track that his tears had left down his dirt covered face. His eyes met Harry's for just a moment before he focused his eyes on Hermiones. He was shuddering, crying uncontrollably, but never taking her eyes off Harry's. He gave them both the slightest nod, and turned his attention back to Voldemort. He wanted to know when it was coming.

He couldn't help but notice Hagrid trying to make his way through the bubble, his mouth moving as if he should be shouting, with no sound coming out. He also had tears falling into his beard. Harry wished everyone would stop crying. He didn't want his last moments to be depressing. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion up until this moment.

"Any last words, Potter?" Voldemort sneered, as he walked slowly towards Harry, his wand pointed directly at his heart.

But before he even gave Harry the chance for any last words, he quickened his pace and practically ran across the clearing, and when his wand was directly touching Harry's chest, he said those two deadly words. He was struck dead instantly, with the last piece of his soul severed.

Harry's last moment seemed to last longer than he'd hoped it would. His heart gave a lurch as it was struck with the curse, forcing out one last pathetic beat. The last thing he saw as he fell was the evening sky over Hogwarts school. In that single moment, he strangely remembered his astronomy lessons of the stars, and thought of the constellations floating carelessly above him as his life was slipping away, millisecond by millisecond. Then, he felt himself hit the ground, his last breath forced out of his lungs, and everything was gone. Harry Potter was dead. He hadn't even raised his wand to defend himself.

In that moment, Hermione realized that Harry knew that this is how it had to be. It did not stop the endless tears coming from her eyes, could not stop her eyes from looking at Harry's unmoving, lifeless form laying on the cold grass in front of her. Ron could not look at him. He was crying uncontrollably as well. His best friend, gone forever. At the hands of a man whos name he could not even say.


End file.
